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11.5: Millions of skiers and snowboarders in the U.S.

 

0: Number of Australian ski resorts that will remain economically viable by 2070 if global warming trends continue.

 

720,000: Gallons of water Vermont's Killington Resort uses every hour — at peak production — to make snow.

 

113.6: Height in feet of the world's largest snowman, built in Bethel, Maine, in 1999.

 

10: Percent decrease in the Northern Hemisphere's snow cover since 1966.

 

15: Length in inches of the largest snowflake on record. The flake, which measured eight inches thick, fell out of the sky and into the history books on January 28, 1887, in Montana.

 

75: Percentage of water supplied to the West most of the year by melting snowpack.

 

115.6: Average inches of annual snowfall in Syracuse, N.Y., the snowiest city in the U.S.

 

8: Number of dust storms to hit the Colorado Rockies in 2006. The dust, which comes from the drought-ravaged Colorado Plateau, melts the snowpack.

 

500: Pounds of salt needed to melt snow and ice to keep it from bonding to one mile of a two-lane road.

 

5: Number of primary active ingredients in products used to melt snow and ice — all five damage the environment.

 

8: Number of pesticides detected in high-elevation snow in the U.S., four of which are banned.

 

This article originally appeared in Plenty in January 2008. The story was added to MNN.com in December 2009.

 

Copyright Environ Press 2009